Thread by @julianzelizer

None of the Democrats currently running for president are “anti-capitalist.” Even being a Social Democrat circa 2019 does not mean opposing capitalism. Senator Sanders, for instance, has not called for the nationalization of any industry. A few thoughts on this.

The entire debate over this issue has no connection to the platforms, policies, or speeches being delivered by the candidates thus far. Instead, the narrative feeds directly into the Republican campaign message: Democrats are radical extremists.

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, a moderate and a former businessman, stumbled when asked about his views.
cnn.com/videos/tv/2019…

@LarryGlickman wrote a fantastic thread putting @Hickenlooper's comments into historical context. As always, Larry is spot on.

https://twitter.com/LarryGlickman/status/1104350920744337409

However, Democrats need a stronger response. The sad reality is that in politics, questions are not always fair, they are often useless, they can be shallow, and they might be knee-jerk reactions to partisan p.r.

But not having a good answer can still have a damaging electoral impact.

Responses that center on semantics, no-labels, and historical nuance probably won’t cut it.

The conservative-media-industrial complex is all ready to go with a slash-and-burn messaging campaign that will paint every Democrat, even the most moderate in the bunch, as the new incarnation of Karl Marx.

However, Democrats could easily reverse this. I can imagine a powerful response-- one that resonates with a broad range of Americans.

Democrats could say that “yes” they are capitalists but that they champion a fair and humane version which strengthens, protects, and grows the middle class, a capitalism that elevates Americans in poverty, and a capitalism that demands reasonable contributions from the wealthy.

Democrats can also point to the specific policies that they support—such protections for Americans with pre-existing health conditions, a higher minimum wage, and saving the environment—to explain what they are talking about. These policies tend to do well in the polls.

In her classic book, Lizabeth Cohen looked at “moral capitalism” during the 1930s. Cohen wrote that workers “did not reject private ownership of property but favored a form of capitalism that promised everyone, owner or worker, a fair share.”
amazon.com/Making-New-Dea…

Given politics since President Reagan, Democrats could easily contrast their version of capitalism with a more ruthless, supply-side, winner-takes-all variety that is now front and center with the president’s proposed budget—cut domestic spending to pay for a wall.

Oh yeah, and all of this after massive corporate tax cut.

In 1988, Democrats saw how baseless attacks could brand a candidate in a negative light (@KevinMKruse and I write about this in #FaultLines). Working for Bush, Lee Atwater painted the centrist technocrat, Democrat Michael Dukakis, as a far left “card-carrying” member of the ACLU

Here, you can see an ACLU ad responding to the attacks.
blogs.princeton.edu/reelmudd/2010/…

To achieve victory in 2020, Democrats can’t let this happen again.

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